whole gop mess is just sad. people need jobs, not spin. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. >>wars of religion. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, birth control, religion, and politics. republicans are brilliantly turning the hhs decision on the church and birth control into a classic wedge issue. something that ignites your side, divides the opposition. and democrats are divided. some of them peeling off to oppose president obama. late today vice president joe biden said the white house was trying hard to address concerns raised by the catholic church. in other words, the white house knows it has a problem on its

hands. but here's how off the charts crazy this debate has gotten. republicans once accused candidate obama of being the acolyte of a christian minister, jeremiah wright. later he was accused of being a secret muslim. now republicans charge obama with attempting to destroy all religion. rick santorum said last night we're headed for the french revolution and the guillotine. you might say republicans are losing their heads on this issue. how fringy have the republicans become? how wild has their party become? mr. guillotine himself may be the biggest threat to mitt romney. "the wall street journal" said today they don't trust him because he gives them so little reason to. now president obama's first three years in office. and finally, let me finish tonight with dual explosions. one against romney and the other against the birth control ruling, even among democrats themselves. we start with religion and politics. john heilemann, national affairs

editor for "new york magazine." also an msnbc political analyst. and susan page, a great bureau chief of "usa today." let's talk about this thing that's developed. even in a photo op with the italian prime minister late this afternoon, president obama couldn't escape questions about this contraceptive issue and religious organizations. let's listen to what happened. >> thank you, guys. come on, guys. come on, guys. >> shortly afterwards, harry reid tried to defuse the issue again. let's listen. >> this debate that's going on dealing this issue of contraception is a rule that hasn't even been made final yet. there's no final rule. there's not a rule. everybody should calm down. let's see what transpires.

>> boy, those are desperate. i'm sorry, susan. those are the moves of people that don't like what's happening. >> this rule is not going to go into effect. they couldn't find compromised language some other way to go forward. they will because given the opposition on the republican side and with people like tim kaine and john larson. >> the current chairman of the democratic house caucus. >> the administration is going to have to backtrack. the question is how far? >> a couple people out on this issue. tim kaine, the former chairman of the party, now running in a head-to-head battle. they are the hope of the democrats. formerly who have some disagreement out front with the president and say the exemption for religious employers needs to be broad. it includes tim kaine. he's running a close rate in virginia. senator bob casey. u.s. congressman john larson. senator joe manchin who is hanging on by his fingernails.

and daniel lipinski. kaine said, i think they made a bad decision not allowing a broad enough religious exemption. >> i was on the conference call with the white house on december 3rd urging them not to do this. i thought it was wrong and an infringement of the religious rights that we have in the institution. they went ahead and did it anyway. >> in a letter to the hhs secretary sebelius, u.s. congressman john larson said, i believe that further flexibility needs to be granted to religiously affiliated organizations. john heilemann, this isn't about birth control coverage in your health care plans. which is now required by obama care, by the president's health care plan. for example, governor kaine made it a point of calling us and making sure we know that. it's about whether there should be a broad religious exemption for churches, hospitals and

other religious groups that don't believe in birth control and are against it as a matter of sin if youio will. >> well, look. i watched it on our network last night. i watched david boise make a compelling argument about why these people are, in fact, wrong. >> who is wrong? >> the people who think there should be a broader religious exemption. it's a matter of labor law and employment law. as an employer, the same laws should apply. you can't exempt -- they're not exempt from tax laws or discrimination laws or workers' comp. i think there's some part of the president that thought on the merit he's was right. clearly it's a political problem. >> does he include churches? >> he does. >> so you can make convents buy birth control? >> he's saying employers. but employers that are -- that employers must abide by employment law. >> so he's going further than the president on this then?

he says in other words you can go into a convent and say you must buy this kind of insurance? >> i don't know that. i'm not going to put words in his mouth. he was saying that this rule has applied to employers, again -- >> if this goes to the supreme court, i think he'll lose. >> the question is, is this, the political matter is it a problem? i think the white house handled it badly. we're seeing the implications of that play out. if you're going to take a controversial position and you had people like joe biden warning you there's going to be a politically sensitive matter, it's crazy to not have introduced this in a way with a lot more explanation than letting it get out there and start this controversy so it could be defined by conservatives in the way it has been defined and the way the catholic church reacted to it without laying the groundwork. that was a huge mistake and they are paying the costs of making that mistake i think. >> it's a tricky matter. my question, susan, your thoughts here just in terms of covering this politically.

people come from different backgrounds. i'm catholic and i know after 16 years of schooling, growing up in the convent, having two aunts in the convent, i know that world. that may be more my world than politics. and i know how people believe in the right of the church to make these decisions. now we can disagree with that in terms of our personal lives. there are catholics out there certainly who just say, i want to use birth control. if you look in the pews, there's no families of 8 or 12 or bobby kennedy families or whatever. the priests look out and they see that. but should the priests be forced to do something they believe is wrong? >> this issue is important to some catholics and socially conservative catholics. but i actually think it's an issue that's broader than just catholics. a lot of religiously observent people and people who aren't religiously observent want to

respect religion. do you want to respect the rights of employees, but surely there's some other answer than the rule they have come up with. >> i tried not to take a position on this to try to make sure both sides are heard. it seems there ought to be a way to allow women who are concerned here and they certainly have more rights, and they deserve to get them. can they go to work knowing they can have birth control pills if they want. if they need them. if they want birth control, they should get it all. the question is what does it say on the documents that the church signs? they don't want to sign something that says we're giving it to you free. they want something to protect them so it's the decision of the patient and not the church. that's all they want. i think. i hope that's all they want. >> they spent a lot more time studying these issues. he talks about this hawaii model that's been used there thatñi seems to thread that needle so that people feel like their religion is being respected but the rights of women to have access --

>> let's talk about how it happened. apparently kathleen sebelius, a politician as much as anybody here, knows politics. he comes out of kansas. he promulgated this. she had the support of valerie jarrett around the president and she had people around her. this broadened into a big discussion involving pelosi and boxer and all kinds of people and the feminist groups around the country, the women's rights groups. why did it become such a big issue is what i don't understand.çóxd it's only a small group of people compared to the larger group of women. why did this become a national discussion all these months? i missed it. >> i don't know. >> why is everybody involved in this? >> for a lot of people, there's a point of principle.xd >> on both sides. >> yes, on both sides, absolutely agreed. >> put it this way. if we had read two weeks ago there's going to be a religious exemption for churches and

colleged like where i went, holy cross or notre dame, they are going to be exempt from this requirement that get it paid for without a copay. would anybody have raised hell? >> would there have been an outrage or uproar like we're getting now if the decision had gone the other way in terms of the breadth of the exemption? >> i don't know. i go back to the point i made before. it's amazing to me it took two or three days to point out this is the law of the land @í!28 states already. >> it's not. those requirements are not the same as this. i have gone through this. that's what the white house is putting out. get that established in the penalty of the white house. just do that because there's copays involved and it's different. >> would it have been a controversy the other way? yes. the white house needs -- they need women voters on their side too. that's why it's tricky. >> the rectory gets it.

they're exempted. the convent, obviously, exempted. then you go across the street to the same janitors working at the catholic school where i went. do they not get exempted? father judge high school. you go across the street, these are the same people working in both places. how do you decide this? do you exempt grade schools and high schools but not colleges? this is so tricky. i wish there had been some thought into this. thank you john heileman. we all have different sources. and thank you, susan page. coming up -- in the eyes of some republicans, president obama has gone from being a radical christian to a secret muslim now to a secular of the french revolution seeking to overthrow the church. what's with this phoney stuff that keeps changing? you're watching "hardball" on msnbc.

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can republicans get their attack on obama straight? when he was running back in 2008, they went after him for

his ties to the controversial christian pastor jeremiah wright. remember that? then came the birther conspiracies and accusations he was secretly a muslim. then many prominent republicans when given the opportunity disavow that kind of talk stayed pleasantly silent. other stoked the flames. now they are attacking his anti-christian and hostile to all religion period. they portray the president as the other. we'll get into that with tony perkins and joan walsh, an msnbc political analyst and editor at large for salon. i want you all to watch this. we talked about the overheated rhetoric. last night in texas, rick santorum drew an analogy between president obama's policies today regarding birth control and the catholic church, et cetera. and then the french revolution. let's watch. >> they are taking faith and crushing it. why? why? when you marginalize faith in

america, when you remove the pillar of god-given rights, then what's left? it's the french revolution. what's left is a government that gives you rights. what's left are no unalienable rights. what's left is a government that will tell you who you are, what you'll do, and when you'll do it. what's left in france became the guillotine. ladies and gentlemen, we're a long way from that. but if we do and follow the path of president obama and his overt hostility to faith in america, then we are headed down that road. >> tony, they aren't your words nor your pictures. i keep thinking of the tale of two cities and the guillotine

and the bad guys and the good guys. does that come back to you when you watch this fight over birth control and the catholic church? are we that far to this armageddon? >> it's interesting. i just watched the tale two of cities last weekend. i think the point there is the french revolution has driven by a secular platform and what we see, the policies from this administration and going back to what you said in your opening, i don't make judgments about the president's personal faith. but what i do make are very clear analysis of his policies, and his policies have been hostile toward religion. there is an effort to push it from the public square nad that is very concerning. >> where has he done this? besides this debate we have just had, which is a tricky debate over church and state and birth control. where else has he shown what you call a hostility to religion. >> well, we actually -- there's been a similar case going on with the eoc.

bell abbey college. a catholic university was forced to participate in contraception coverage for their employees. you had the national labor board that ruled that xavier university was not catholic enough. therefore, had to be unionized. we've seen reverend franklin graham disinvited to the pentagon just last week, we had jerry -- >> oh, i wouldn't invite him either because franklin graham is a disgrace. okay, i don't think he's a typical christian minister, do you, with his commentaries on islam and his partisanship? his partisanship? >> he was going to a national day of prayer event to speak. and you look at the work he has done in helping muslims, non-muslims around the world. it's quite amazing. but you look at what happened before christmas where the military, the walter reed medical center banned the bible

from being brought in or read from. you see these policies coming out, trickling out. you see this past weekend, the same issue, but you had the military chaplains were censored in what they could talk about in terms of this contraceptive issue. so there is this flow. >> so you believe the president of the united states told people they couldn't bring the bible into walter reed? that's what it just sounded like you just said. >> it's come from his administration. i would not say -- well, we actually tried to find out. we asked for a freedom of -- we used the freedom of information act request to try to find out. members of congress have looked into it as well. >> you mean a person can't bring a bible -- are you saying a person can't bring a bible into walter reed? >> that was the stated policy in the four-page memo. >> i think it was a rule against -- i think it was a rule about proselytizing and going room to room with bibles and religious material. you can't bring in one to your husband who is suffering?

you can't bring him a bible? you really take that seriously? >> the memo. >> okay. that's a distortion. you can't bring a bible? you're saying a person can't bring a bible into walter reed? you're honestly saying that? >> they have since -- chris, i have the memo. the four-page memo. >> it was about proselytizing and use -- >> no it was not. it was not. it was not. i'll be happy to send it to you. >> okay. i want to see where it says i can't bring a bible into a military hospital. >> i'll send it to you. >> joan, this is getting absurd. he's talking from cpac. maybe it's the environment that's got him. but this absurdity that it's the french revolution. we're going to the guillotine. we're overthrowing religion. i think that's overreached like a lot of things today. >> chris, this is crazy talk. it's absolutely crazy talk. and i just want to touch on a couple things that tony said. first of all, this president has celebrated the national day of prayer. he's gone to court to defend it.

that's one thing. second of all, he has expanded the office of faith-based initiatives, and he has also offended his secular base by continuing the bush administration policy that lets people who get that funding, taxpayer funding, discriminate against people who don't practice that faith. they can even not hire people like single moms or gay men who practice things against the church. obama went along with that. he issued an executive order. really deeply offending his base. he also put stimulus money into churches through the office of faith-based initiatives. the catholic charities usa said he's done more for faith-based initiatives than president bush who started and expanded the program. so this notion that this president is against christianity or against faith is preposterous. he is a christian and has supported christianity. he's bucked his base on these

issues at many turns. >> tony, there's a big difference in a lot of space and we call it america between being a theocrat and believing a president should impose his religious beliefs and someone who is anti-religious. let's talk about santorum here. you think santorum is legitimate? santorum went into the senate floor with two other senators and played chaplain that night. the laying on of the hands, whatever, going on here. a religious-style crusade for president of the united states? he brought the senate into session, intervening in the schiavo case in florida, which cost him his seat and played chaplain. don't you think that's overreach? don't you think that's overreaching on theocracy? >> no. you talk about theocracy, you

see this administration using its power to impose ideology and extract its allegiance from the public. i'm going back to this thing about the catholic bishops have been providing help to sex trafficking. they rank the highest out of the career department of health and human services. rated their services as best. yet the political appointees of this administration refused to give them a contract because they would not refer to abortions. this administration has a clear agenda on these issues and they do not hesitate to discriminate towards organizations based on their religious views. >> that means they're anti-religious? that means they are warring on religion? >> well, what -- look. this is what -- why you have the public so worked up over the issue, you have 62% of protestants, 65% of catholics. >> the majority of catholics

actually support the president on this. this was a controversial issue. but a majority of catholics in every poll i've seen -- >> they do not support the -- >> it's the majority between 50% and 60% who actually support the administration on this. so i don't want to relitigate that. you guys had a great panel about this, but those are the facts in the public opinion polls. >> tony, do you think this president is a muslim? >> no. >> why does your people -- >> my people? >> santorum. stands by when a person right in front of his face accused the president of being a muslim and he says nothing about it. >> i don't know. the things that we have said have always been about the president's policies. that's what we can clearly analyze. i don't know what's in a man's heart. i don't know if he's accepted

christ as his savior. if he says he has, that's between him and god. what's between him and are the policies he pushes and those policies are antithetical to most religious views. especially to catholics on this issue. >> it's a hot issue. thank you tony perkins and joan walsh. thank you for coming on. up next, actress betty white says she can't stop playing the birthday message president obama sent to her. betty white has been around since i think our family got a tv set. i'm not knocking it. it's extraordinary. and that's ahead in the side show. you're watching "hard ball" on msnbc. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550

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tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. back to "hardball." now for the sideshow. cue the music. we have a preview of what's to come when the president hits the campaign trail in full swing. the official campaign play list. the music you'll be hearing at

the obama events this year. it may have been in the works for a while. here's one. it's likely this moment provided some additional inspiration for the play list. ♪ i -- so in love with you >> the al green classic "let's stay together" did make this list. the rest of the list is extensive including "love you like i do" from jennifer hudson and springsteen. we've come a long way from this one of a few years back. ♪ don't stop thinking about tomorrow ♪ ♪ don't stop it will soon be here ♪ >> they all look good there. very young. no great campaign for president lacks a great campaign song. remember that one. next up, a birthday to remember. when betty white celebrated her

90th birthday last month, president obama marked the occasion with a birthday message for her. >> dear betty, you look so fantastic and full of energy. i can't believe you're 90 years old. in fact, i don't believe it. that's why i'm writing to ask if you will be willing to produce a copy of your long form birth certificate. thanks, and happy birthday no matter how old you are. ♪ thank you for being a friend ♪ travel down the road and back again ♪ >> so what did betty white think of that? she's still reliving the experience. let's hear it from her. >> do you believe what he did? he broke me up. i've never met him. i'm a tremendous fan of his. and the twinkle in his eye, i still can't believe it. i play it over and over again. that kind of sense of humor and

the fact he would take the time to do that, it really blew me away and made me laugh and still makes me laugh. that's a way to celebrate your birthday. >> talk about good genes. betty white has been on television since our family got a tv. anyway, up next, mitt romney's got big problems. republicans aren't enthusiastic about this guy. obviously. and conservatives still don't trust the guy, obviously. and that's all ahead. i think progressives are going to enjoy this segment coming up. it's the disastrous situation in the republican party. they have a guy out front now they don't like. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. [ leanne ] appliance park has been here since the early 50s.

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i'm veronica de la cruz. the u.s. is reportedly weighing options on syria. senator john mccain is saying if more arms aren't the answer in

syria, someone should inform rush in and iran. the l.a. school that closed after assault allegations reopened today. and they vote to apru new licenses for nuclear reactors. they could begin operating as soon as 2016. now back to "hardball." there's no such thing as coronation in politics. it's not easy to get the nomination. it's not easy to be elected president. this is a testing approach. so far, we're doing pretty well. >> welcome back to "hardball." that's what the guy who is losing looks like. a coronation it most certainly is not for mitt romney. if anything, the gop race is more in the state of flux following rick santorum's wins two nights ago.

more concerning for the former massachusetts governor are the republican intelligencia worries about his candidacy. "the wall street journal" editorial today reads in part, "conservatives don't trust mr. romney in part because he gives them little reason to do so. he seems to retreat at the first sound of a liberal moral argument. this means he'd play defense against president obama who is distilling his campaign to a moral defense of taxing the rich and government redistributive justice. well, can romney ever convince the right he's one of them? that means "the wall street journal" editorial page, saving himself from an elongated and bloody battle all the way to tampa in august. david gregory moderator of "meet the press." and howard fineman is an mbs nbc analyst. three strikes you're out. where's he stand? >> he's not closing the deal with conservatives. he's also not closing the deal with big names in the republican party who don't just knock him as "the wall street journal" did

because he can't be trusted, but because he doesn't have a broad campaign with big ideas meant to deal with big problems. >> why do you think he's held back from being anything but the alternative to what he thought was going to be a badly wounded president? >> i think what he's doing now is cautious, tactical play here. he realizes that he thought he could stay above the fray for a long time. now he has to rip the guy's face off here. >> he did that to gingrich, which was an easy mark. gingrich had all this baggage. if he turns his guns now on rick santorum, is the public going to go, wait a minute. they did this dresden number before. are we going to let him do it to another guy who is fairly clean? >> first of all, mitt romney's popularity numbers, his general approval numbers across the country have plummeted. he used to get 60%.

he's now in the 40s or 50s. just as a general matter. it's hurt him to begin with. rick santorum isn't a famous enough guy with enough flaws to merit it. everybody knew about newt gingrich. people are going to say you're attacking poor rick santorum who is having a laying on of hands in the church in texas. it's a richer target. i was just at the conservative political action committee meeting here in washington. it started today. it's going on for four days. i was struck by the fact that, first of all, there aren't a lot of signs or buttons for any of the candidates. it's a big crowd. there are a lot of people there. a lot of kids there. it's a great social thing for conservatives now. but you felt in a way the presidential campaign in general, mitt romney in particular, are not attached to what is really kind of the woodstock of the conservative movement. >> that's the question. i think tomorrow at 1:00 in the afternoon, he hits those people. does he go back to his usual fighting stance of taking on

obama one more time, just blasting the president? >> i think he has to do that, but he's got to do more. i talked to some of these activists who are speaking at this conservative gathering. they say the mistake sheer somehow the anti-obama riff is enough. we see it. >> they thought that? >> it's not enough. you look at who is showing up in colorado and minnesota and the other contests. the numbers are down. why? because there's not intensity for somebody. this is part of the problem. of course, conservatives don't like obama and he wants to run an anti-obama, but what is he for? there's something about the clint eastwood ad thing this week. americans do want to get up, dust themselves off and do something big. >> why doesn't he run that? >> he doesn't know what to say. it doesn't seem. >> everybody we have known that has done well in politics, left and right. certainly ronald reagan trashed jimmy carter but also said we can do so much better. and was always pushing the

future of america. >> ronald reagan was an optimist at heart who made everybody feel in the conservative movement for sure, feel excited about the conservative agenda for the country. feel it was an optimistic thing. it was going to get the country going again. you don't sense that in anything other than a mechanical way from mitt romney. >> he's offering a power point. he's got 59 points about how to make the economy better. >> they're not conservative principles. they have to find a way to articulate a more conservative message. >> here comes the new biography on the guy. a new personal tale for romney on the trail this week is the time he spent as a mormon minister. here he was yesterday in atlanta. >> in my church, we don't have a professional ministry. so people are asked to serve as the minister or the pastor of their congregation from time to time. i had a privilege of doing that for over ten years. and in that capacity, i had the chance to work with people who lost their jobs in some cases or

were facing other financial distress. losing their homes. and i found that those kind of circumstances were not just about money or numbers. they were about lives and about emotions. sometimes marriages suffered. sometimes people became depressed. clinically depressed. being out of work a long time is a real threat and challenge to human happiness. and i feel this president has let us down. >> what job is he running for? what was that an application for? >> in fairness to him -- >> we don't do that here. we don't do in fairness to him. >> the romney campaign is locked in their headquarters saying how do we humanize this guy? how do we make a narrative of his life that comports with the experience of average americans? it's not bain capital. the power point thing doesn't work. so on the personal level, he's been afraid of the mormon thing because it's the mormons. but a matter of fact, people who know him well and know about his work as a leader in the mormon

church, where, in fact, he did have to deal with individual problems, did have to get involved with the emotions of people is actually a very stirring thing. but they should have thought of that by now. >> i don't know that it's too late. >> but for him -- >> i don't want to be too secular about this. that is an important message. >> that is the core whof he is. >> is he still the favorite? >> yes. >> yes. >> thank you. thank you david gregory and howard fineman. a little slower there. up next, what kind of president has barack obama been in his first three years of office? james fallows is joining us. it's an in-depth article out in "the atlantic." a big thing on the president and how he's done for three years. it's very important for people to catch up on the depth of this guy's administration. this is "hardball" on msnbc. want my downy unstopables? laundry smells good for a long time. nmm mmn. really, you can have it! take it joe. ♪ downy unstopables [ sniffs ]

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former aide to congresswoman gabrielle giffords will run in the special election to replace her. ron barber was also wounded in last year's shooting announced

his candidacy today and will have the backing of the democratic party on that june 12th election. no primary there. barber served as district director for giffords who resigned from congress two weeksing too focus on her recovery. giffords and her husband endorsed barber today. i guess it's all done on the democratic side in that district. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] you love the taste of 2% milk.

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is he a pawn in the game overwhelmed and out of his depth. big question. james fallows joins us now to answer. so what is the answer? >> the answer is he's becoming more of a master. one of the premises i start with is every president comes in flawed in various ways. you and i worked for jimmy carter. we recall that. but they all have limitations. nobody can do all the thing wells the job requires. the question is, do they get better. >> he says he's getting better. >> he says he's getting better. i argue he is. in the way he handles the congress, you can see more sophistication about the zero sum game of politics. he seems to be more comfortable making economic arguments, which were his weak point. and argue in foreign policy, he actually, where he can operate, he's had a pretty wise view all along. >> how do you explain the fact that a guy who i supported as well as so many other people did because he was against the iraq war who seemed like sort of a '60s guy, even though he's much younger, like we all know. had real sensitivity about us becoming too imperialistic.

yet disheartening to some about the surging in afghanistan. but being also a very effective in getting the bad guy and bin laden. >> also in dealing >> also dealing with china, maybe most sophisticated having a china policy. on guantanamo bay, this is a to explore over the years. there is a poll in presidential powers, you can do things in foreign policy -- >> you don't have to deal with mitch mcconnell. we're talking about, i don't want to get -- this question how the president's circle of knowledge. the president you can call on anybody you want, you can read anything you want how does he know how to approach a tough call to stand up exemption for

religious organizations on women's health? >> people have face-to-face interactions. flr was a master, bill clinton was analytical, appears obama has modes of strength. one is reading internet, magazines, whatever the other is executive-type meetings. i didn't write about it in this article, there are things i left out, a friend of mine who is a successful business executive says he has good managerial t temp temperament, a broad osmosis. >> no bull sessions, no sitting around, he would never invite a couple senators to talk about things at night. >> that's true. we remembered how bill clinton did all kind of thing, obama more of a -- >> he would be calling people at

3:00 in the morning, i know that he has things, i know this from hearing things from him that -- he likes to -- for robert cagen, that mental game thing going on in his head. >> a former editor of the harvard law revoke, there is a joke in his excellent first book, "dreams of our father" he could have been a writer. mental games is part of the job of president. >> what do you think is missing? what is missing for him to be a great roosevelt, reagan-type success. but if he wants to move tho country, break the filibusters, what does he need to do? >> the issue which he rose is

the iraq war, part of his natural register, issues of war and peace, america's role in the world of division. what ended being the big issues was economics, not his natural -- fdr and lbj and clinton could talk the whole range, that is not his natural voice. >> i think he found a voice i don't -- since september he has been talking about jobs, payroll tax cut, stimulate more jobs. he is not competing with republicans on debt reduction. i think that is a smart move. >> a great memo to harry truman dead opposition congress, here is the truth, they will stall over amendment, you have to speak for the whole people and that is where obama is doing. >> congress has a 10% approval

rating. run against congress, also run against unfairness in taxation, he may well win. >> i think that is why they are in the business, much can say. >> thank you, james huge article. we'll finish how things quickly so quickly in this political word you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout.

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pom politics are tricky. the time you think things are under control pop everything goes wild. tuesday night began with mitt romney owning the republican presidential nomination. by night's end he was beat. beat badly, in all three state where he was running. all that money of his, all that power, the republican wait your turn crowd, all those media claims that said things were swell for him and guess what? the voter had something to say. i'm so happy voters don't listen to the money men, don't listen to the power what they are supposed to do, don't listen to us on tv, the people are paid to tell you what is going on out there, what will happen. the decisions have been made. no, people don't listen to anyone these days, they go in those voting booths and do what makes them feel good about themselves. ernest hemmingway says good what

is what you feel about at the time. too much stuff, after voting for mitt romney, it's worse, they don't feel anything. the same thing goes for the matter involving the church and birth control, if anyone in the white house told the president this was cooked, they were wrong. the job of people in politics, the pros, is to warn the boss of trouble ahead. the democratic coalition if it's to be a protest faction can afford to be about 5% or 40% of the country, 35%, 40%, the liberal, progressives. to be a governing coalition, it needs to be 55%. that is what it takes to government -- govern. takes 60 senators to get it done. to keep it together takes care in an election year that may be decided by a few percentage points. remember, president obama was elected with 53%. he has done work like